Merry-go-round with plural arms jointly rotatable about a vertical axis and individually activatable in automatic sequence for rising and falling motion



Filed Feb. 14, 1968 3, 1970 A. SCHWARZKOPF March MERRYGOROUND WITH PLURAL ARMS JOINTLY ROTATABLE ABOUT A VERTICAL AXIS AND INDIVIDUALLY ACTIVATABLE IN AUTOMATIC SEQUENCE FOR RISING AND FALLING MOTION 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 March 1970 A. SCHWARZKOPF 3,493,604

MERRY-GO-ROUND WITH PLURAL ARMS JOINTLY ROTATABLE ABOUT A VERTICAL AXIS AND INDIVIDUALLY ACTIVA'I'ABLE IN AUTOMATIC SEQUENCE FOR RISING AND FALLING MOTION Filed Feb. 14.. 1968 I 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Anfon Sch warzkopf l N V E N TO R BY {Kurt R ss A'ITORNEY March 3,1970

MERRY-GO-ROUND WITH PLURAL ARMS JOINTLY ROTA'I'ABLE ABOUT A VERTICAL AXIS AND INDIVIDUALLY ACTIVATABLE IN AUTOMATIC Filed Feb. 14, 1968 SEQUENCE FOR RISING AND FALLING MOTION 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Fig.3

Anion Schwarzkopf l NVENTOR.

BY owl ibis ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,498,604 MERRY-GO-ROUND WITH PLURAL ARMS JOINT- LY ROTATABLE ABOUT A VERTICAL AXIS AND INDIVIDUALLY ACTIVATABLE IN AUTO- MATIC SEQUENCE FOR RISING AND FALLING MOTION Anton Schwarzkopf, 76a Haus, 8909 Munsterhausen, Schwaben, Germany Filed Feb. 14, 1968, Ser. No. 705,383 Claims priority, application Germany, Oct. 7, 1967, Sch 41,401 Int. Cl. A63g 1/00 US. Cl. 272-36 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Merry-go-round with car at the ends of radial arms extending outwardly from a common hub which rotates about a generally vertical axis, each car also swinging in an axial plane while revolving with the hub. Separate motors individually control the swing of each arm and are sequentially placed in operation at the beginning of a ride; when rotation stops, they are individually stopped as each arm reaches its bottom position in which the cars can be unloaded.

My present invention relates to a merry-go-round of the type wherein a number of passenger cars revolve about a central axis and, at the same time, undergo vertical undulations to simulate riding of waves or travel over hilly terrain. This effect, which adds to the pleasurable experience of carousel rinding, has hitherto been achieved by the use of undulating tracks, e.g. as disclosed in US. Patent No. 3,297,319, or through complex linkages between the car-supporting outrigger arms and the central driving mechanism.

One of the problems encountered in such systems is the need for letting each car come to rest at the level of a platform or other type of landing to facilitate the boarding of the cars and the discharge of passengers therefrom. With swingable outrigger arms mounted-on a common hub it is necessary either to dispose the several landings at different levels or to provide means insuring a return of each arm to a predetermined level, preferably to its lowermost position, at the end of any ride.

The general object of my invention is to provide improved means for so controlling the vertical oscillations of the several passenger cars. of a merry-go-round of this description as to insure their correct positioning at loading level during standstill. V

A more particular object of the present invention is to provide means in such merry-go-round for controlling the swing of the individual cars in a more-or less random pattern, thereby increasing the excitement of the ride.

These objects are realized, pursuant to'the present invention, by the provision of an individual drive for the swinging of each outrigger arm in a substantially radial plane, i.e. an approximately vertical plane which includes or passes close to the central axis of rotation; the individual swing drives of the several arms are independent of one another, and of the central drive, except that the beginning and the end of the swing should approximately coincide with the beginning and the end of rotation of the entire system about its central axis. Thus, the individual swing drives may be sequentially actuated at the start of rotation and arrested at diiferent times as the system comes to a halt, the swing of each arm being stopped just as the car thereof reaches its loading level (e.g. its bottom position). As the several swing drives may operate at different speeds, the pattern of rising and falling motion may be randomly varied.'

3,498,604 Patented Mar. 3, 1970 "ice The invention will be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a side-elevational view of the central hub and of the outrigger arms of a multicar carousel according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the central part of the system of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram for the central and individual drives of the system of FIGS. 1 and 2.

The merry-go-round shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 comprises a central hub 2 rotatable about an axis 1 and provided with a nonrotatable base 7 which, if desired, may be swung about a horizontal pivot 17 under the control of, say, a hydraulic jack 18. At least at the beginning and at the end of each ride, however, the base 7 is assumed to be in its illustrated horizontal position so that the central axis 1 stands vertical. Hub 2 is provided with a bottom disk 5 which is designed as a worm gear and is supported on base 7 through the intermediary of annular ball bearings 6 centered on axis 1. A motor 19 rotates the worm gear 5 and with it the hub 2 through a worm 20 in mesh therewith, this arrangement permitting the use of highspeed electric motors of relatively low power as part of the central drive.

Hub 2, shown to be of polygonal (here pentagonal) configuration, is provided with a plurality of Outrigger arms 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d, 3e, each pivoted to a respective side thereof by a corresponding hinge 4. A passenger car or cabin 21 is pivotally suspended on the free end of each outrigger arm, as particularly illustrated for arm 3a, and occupies during standstill of motor 19 the position shown in full lines in FIG. 1 in which the car rests on the level of a loading platform 22. The vertical position of each outrigger arm is controlled by a linkage which, again as illustrated in detail for the arm 3a, includes a rod 8 articulated at 9 to a point of the arm remote from hub 2. The other end of rod 8 is hinged at 23 to a stud 10 which is freely rotatable on a disk 16 on which it is eccentrically pivoted to form a crank pin; stud 10 and binge 23 together constitute, in effect, a universal joint between disk 16 and rod 8. Disk 16 is rigid with a spur gear 11 engaged by a pinion 12, and is rotatably journaled at 15 on the hub 2.

Associated with each outrigger arm 3a-3e is an individual drive motor 13a, 13b, 13c, 13d, 132 which is mounted within the hub by a bracket 14 and has an upwardly projecting shaft carrying the respective pinion 12. In the standstill position illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, the joints 10 are all disposed at their greatest distance from axis 1 so that the arms 3a etc. are at bottom level and the cars 21 confront the platform 22 which may form a common landing around the entire carousel. When power is applied to the system, motor 19 is energized and hub 2 begins to turn along with its cars 21. Thereafter, the individual motors 13a13e are successively actuated to begin the vertical swing of the outrigger arms in staggered relationship. FIG. 1 illustrates the elevated position of arm 3a in dot-dash lines. At the end of the ride, motor 19 is disconnected and motors 13a-13e cut out one by one as the respective cars 21 return to their bottom position.

In FIG. 3 I have shown a representative circuit arrangement for carrying out the sequence of operation just described. A source of operating current, indicated diagrammatically at 33, constantly energizes a main bus bar 24 which, upon closure of a main switch 25, is tied to an auxiliary bus bar 26 forming part of the operating circuit of motor 19. The motor then entrains, preferably via a step-down transmission not shown, a cam 27 associated with five pairs of switch contacts 28a, 28b, 28c, 28d, 28e. These contacts, when closed 3 in different angular positions of hub 1 (FIGS. 1 and 2), energize respective relays of which only three, designated 29a, 29c and 29s, have been illustrated; each of these relays, in its turn, controls the operation of a respective swing motor 13a etc., only the motors 130,

13c and 132 having been shown in FIG. 3.

It will be assumed that switch 25 has been just closed and that cam 27 has completed less than a full revolution, having briefly closed contacts 280 at the beginning of its sweep. This has energized the relay 29c which, through its lower armature, has locked to auxiliary bus bar 26 and has attracted its upper armature to operate the associated motor 130. It will be noted that each of motors 13a, 13c and 132 is provided with an associated wiper 300, 30c and 30e cooperating with a respective contact 31a, 31c and 31e each tied to one motor terminal. As long as these motors are at rest, the associated wipers are aligned with the gaps of their homing arcs, as illustrated for the wiper 30a, whose relay 29a has just been energized by closure of contacts 28a, as well as for wiper 30c associated with the as yet unoperated relay 29e; these wipers are also connected to bus bar 24 so that, in their off-normal positions, they complete an alternate energizing circuit for the corresponding motor. This alternate circuit is, however, ineffectual as long as the corresponding relay 29a etc. remains locked. After the switch 25 has been opened by the attendant or automatically to terminate the ride with resulting deenergization of main motor 19, the holding circuits of all the relays 29a-29e are broken so that motors 13a- 13e remain energizing only through their respective holding circuits until the wipers 30a-30e register with the gaps of their contact arcs 31a31e. These wiper positions, generally reached at different times, coincide with the bottom positions of the respective outrigger arms.

Cam 27 is representative of a variety of means for consecutively starting the several swing motors 13a etc. If desired, these motors could also be energized by hand, either from within each passenger car or centrally by the operator.

I claim:

1. A merry-go-round comprising a central hub rotatable about a generally vertical axis; a plurality of outrigger arms extending radially from said hub in different directions, each arm being pivotally mounted on said hub for swinging in a substantially radial plane; central drive means for rotating said hub about said axis; a passenger car at the free end of each of said arms; stationary landing means for loading and unloading each passenger car during standstill of said central drive means; and individual drive means for raising and lowering each of said arms during operation of said central drive means; each of said individual drive means being provided with independent control circuitry effective upon termination of rotation of said hub for arresting the respective arm in a position in which the passenger car thereof lies substantially level with, said landing means; said control circuitry including energizing means operative upon beginning rotation of said hub for sequentially starting said individual drive means.

2. A merry-go-round as defined in claim 1 wherein said individual drive means includes a crank member for each arm on said hub and elongated link means connecting said crank member with a point of the associated arm remote from said hub.

3. A merry-go-around as defined in claim 2 wherein said individual drive means further comprises a gear rigid with said crank member, a pinion in mesh with said gear and a motor for rotating said pinion.

4. A merry-go-round as defined in claim 3 wherein said crank member comprises a disk adjoining said gear and a universal joint eccentrically disposed on said disk in engagement with an end of said' link.

5. A merry-go-round comprising a central hub rotatable about a generally vertical axis; a plurality of outrigger arms extending radially from said hub in different directions, each arm being pivotally mounted on said hub for swinging in a substantially radial plane; central drive means for rotating said hub about said axis; a passenger car at the free end of each of said arms; stationary landing means for loading and unloading each passenger car during standstill of said central drive means; and individual drive means for raising and lowering each of said arms during operation of said central drive means, each of said individual drive means being provided with independent control circuitry effective upon termination of rotation of said hub for arresting the respective arm in a position in which the passenger car thereof lies Substantially level with said landing means; said individual drive means including a crank member for each arm on said hub and elongated link means connecting said crank member with a point of the associated arm remote from said hub.

6. A merry-go-round as defined in claim 5 wherein said control circuitry includes energizing means operative upon beginning rotation of said hub for sequential- 1y starting said individual drive means.

References Cited FOREIGN PATENTS 19,296 9/ 1882 Germany. 657,227 9/ 1951 Great Britain. 856,882 12/ 1960 Great Britain.

ANTON O. OECHSLE, Primary Examiner ARNOLD W. KRAMER, Assistant Examiner 

